Hello, I am new to this forum. I've had some bad experiences of people pretending that they know PC hardware on multiple forums, so one of my friends told me to come here for reliable information. Sorry if I sound somewhat of an amateur because I've never had to deal with any hardware outside of putting in a network card, Ram or a CD burner a while back.

Well, I had some unexpected income, so I will probably end up building a computer for myself in the summer. I know it may be a bit too early to pick the hardware at the speed with which it gets outdated, but I still want to do some research.

Anyways, I am looking to spend $1,000 to $1,500, preferably with a decent 19" monitor. The one part I am pretty sure about is the nvidia 8800GT GPU, due to its low price and high quality. I checked that the new 8800GTS 512MB version has better performance than the GT, but is the boost worth about $50 more? I know that some people are AMD/ATI fans, but I do not know anything about AMD CPUs, so I will need you to explain some details to me. I also am not sure whether to go for quad core or it is too soon. Out of Intel CPUs, I believe the only affordable one is the Q6600. Would that be a good choice? Finally, I know nothing about motherboards, so could you please give me some detail on which ones are better as well?

Thank you.

Generally speaking, I don't think CPU plays that much into performance since most people tend to play games. AMDs offer better price/performance in general then Intel. I also don't overclock because I perfer reliability over performance. I have no idea what the life of a 1 ghz oc on an intel chip is, but I've had bad experiences with OCs in the past. In general you can't go wrong with either one. Save yourself $200 on the CPU by dropping the Q6600 and going to a 5000+ and spend it on a 2nd graphics card. I'd personally blow the rest on a bigger monitor and some nice speakers.

You may see some newbies suggesting bad hardware every once in a while, but someone will usually correct them pretty quickly.

For a 19" LCD, no. The GT will do just fine in 1280x1024 (native res of 19-20" 4:3) or 1440x900 (native res of a 19" 16:10 widescreen)

AMD is better for a budget build, imho. They are great procs, don't get me wrong, but if Intel is just faster, plain and simple.

The Q6600 is a good choice if you often fine your self multi-tasking or doing really CPU intensive tasks. (Encoding large files, etc.) The new E8400 (dual-core chip) will outperform the Q6600 in single and double-threaded apps, like PC games. The E8400 is also a 45nm fab, so it runs cooler and requires less power (which in turn offers better OC potential)

I'd recommend the Q6600... but it's soon going to be replaced by it's 45 nm equivalents (Q9450) which improves on it in just about every way possible... so wait if you want a quad core. The 9450 is also going to be priced in the same bracket as the Q6600, but will likely require a new mobo.

Short Answer: Go with the E8400 if you don't multi-task too much and want the fastest gaming machine possible. Go for the Q9450 if you want a faster, better all around PC.

For the E8400 / Q6600:
My advice is to go with a nice P35 or X38 chipset. Something like the GA-P35-DS4 (or DS3L if you just want something simple and powerful) is great. The ASUS P5K series costs a little more, but does about the same thing as the GA-P35 boards. Abit has boards priced between Gigabyte (GA) and ASUS, and has a fairly good reputation as well.

For the Q9450:
Wait until it releases so you can confirm compatibility with a motherboard.

What to avoid:
Do not buy a cheap motherboard with a bad chipset. (Ex. VIA chipsets) These will cause an unbelievable amount of suffering and headaches at your expense.

Do not cheap out on the PSU. I recommend 480-500W for a single graphics card setup. Anything from the following list (Tier 2 an up) is a great buy: http://www.tomswiki.com/page/Tiere [...] ngs?t=anon
(If you want a specific recommendation: Try the Corsair 520HX)

I just built a brand new system. You do not need to spend even $1,000 for a top of the line system. I would HIGHLY recommend the processor I built my new rig with, Intel E8400. This is a 3Ghz dual core processor, and a better buy than the quadcores if you are gaming. I paired this with the Gigabyte GA-P35-DS3L motherboard. The board has everything you need except for RAID. However, seeing as how this is your first build and all, I'm pretty positive you don't need RAID. This board is only $89 on Newegg, and it's not a cheap board by anyways. Read some reviews online. I would recommend the 8800GT from Evga. You have 90 days from your purchase to "STEP UP" to a better card if you keep your receipt. So if your 8800GT pleases you well, you keep it. If you want, you upgrade to the 9xxx series because they will be out in a couple months.

Between now and this summer, additional Intel [quad-core] CPUS will hit shelves in sufficient quantity that any recommendation made now is likely to be irrelevant.
A 19" widescreen is a nice monitor, and you'll likely be happy with it. If, however, you have the physical space and budget room for it, a 22" monitor might be amazing. Going from 1440x900 to 1680x1050 made a pleasant difference for me. You will want a decent GPU for that resolution, however it looks like you've already taken care of that. By summer, you'll likely be able to get even better for the same price. AMD has the 3870X2, and nVidia can't be too far behind with their own dual-core GPU. Make sure your PSU is up to the task. Estimate the size you need here: http://www.extreme.outervision.com [...] orlite.jsp
...and then choose a PSU model from tier-3 or better from the list at http://www.tomswiki.com/page/Tiere [...] gs?t=anon.
Compy386 is partly right; game performance is typically more helped by a better GPU than CPU, however there are some differences. Check Tom's CPU charts. The AMD CPUs (and motherboards) tend to be cheaper, but Intel is notably faster. More games will come out that can use multiple cores. My next CPU will be a quad, once the price drops on the new ones.

And hey, welcome to this forum. I think you'll get good advice here.

Thanks for everyone's help. Looks like most of you have the same opinion as me about the hardware changing a lot by the summer. Guess I will have to keep track of new things being released to see whether anything will be in my price range.

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This seems to me like a very unbalanced system. First, that hard drive may be large, but it has a weired speed (5400 to 7200 rpm?). I would rather get a smaller one that goes at least 7200 rpm. Then about Windows. I am not sure whether I should stay with XP which I have had for years now. Vista SP1 should be released by summer, so I will have to see then. The PSU also seems to be too low. Sure 550 Watts may be enough for this configuration, it would limit any upgrades in the future.

2 drives in a build will increase performance, if you are on a budget just get 2 of the 250gb's if not the 250gb for OS & 500gb for games, data, video, etc.

Seagate Barracuda ST3250410AS 250GB 7200.10 RPM 16MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive
Seagate Barracuda ST3500320AS 500GB 7200.11 RPM 32MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive

These should fit your needs (look on buy.com too):

CORSAIR CMPSU-620HX ATX12V v2.2 EPS12V 2.91 620W Power Supply

SAMSUNG 226BW Black 22" 2 ms (GTG) DVI Widescreen LCD Monitor 300 cd/m2 700:1 (DC 3000:1)

EVGA 512-P3-N841-A3 GeForce 8800GTS (G92) 512MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Supported

41A on 12v rail is more than enough, unless your planning on Sli with multiple hdd. As far as the hdd get what you want there. The PSU is BY FAR more-than-enough to power a non-SLI system and if you dont think so look at my specs to see what I have in my pc. The mushkin is a Teir 4 PSU and its powered my machine with no problems for 6 months. And now that I have had a 8800gt for a week in it, it still powers with more than enough juice...I have my cpu o/c'ed to 2.8 and my sytem is rock stable. the Corsair I suggested is much better then the one I have in my system. Also, as far which o/s to use, if you do go with Vista you might want 3 or 4 gig of ram instead of just 2. anyways g/l with your build and have fun with it